Dalal Said
Here is a list of sources I'll use for my project on Ben Carpenter and his dedication to Las Colinas
Mention of a statue idea by Mr. Carpenter for the town and a historical analysis of Ben Carpenter's ideas for the town of Las Colinas, and the vision that he has in mind for it all.
LAS COLINAS, TEXAS. Las Colinas is a commercial and residential community on State Highway 183, Interstate highways 35E and 635, and Belt Line Road within the city of Irving and ten miles northwest of Dallas in western Dallas County. It is southeast of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airportqv. At the center of Las Colinas is Lake Carolyn; the community also includes the University of Dallas, North Lake Community College, Las Colinas Country Club, Texas Stadium, and the Trinity River Greenbelt Park. The site was settled during the late 1800s, and by the early 1900s a number of small towns, including Kit, Sowers, Finley, and Irving, were in the vicinity. In 1928 John W. Carpenter, father of the founder of Las Colinas, Ben Carpenter, established a ranch in the area; by 1959 the ranch, originally called Hackberry Creek Ranch, had grown to 6,000 acres. The ranch was renamed El Ranchito de Las Colinas (the little ranch of the hills) and was managed by John Carpenter's son Ben and Dan C. Williams. In the late 1960s the westward growth of Dallas prompted the men to develop the ranch as a residential area, but after plans for the D-FW Airport were revealed, Carpenter and Williams began developing a master-planned commercial and residential community. The project was to take some twenty years to complete and would originally encompass about 7,000 acres, 3,450 of which would be used for recreational and educational facilities and Lake Carolyn, a 125-acre man-made lake. The remaining acreage would include numerous business parks built around a public transportation system that would include the Mandalay Canal (a series of canals and water taxis) and the Area Personal Transit system (a system of elevated tracks and passenger vehicles that would serve 1,000 acres of Las Colinas). The community would also have residences for 50,000 people; the residences would be developed so as to preserve the natural setting.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dallas businessman Ben H. Carpenter undertook the task of converting his family ranch into a world-class residential and business development called “Las Colinas.”
CARPENTER, BEN H.Pioneering Dallas real estate developer, died peacefully at his home on Friday morning, March 3. He was 82. When Ben Carpenter went to war in 1942, he put dirt from his father's
In the greatest gamble in Dallas real estate, Ben Carpenter built Las Colinas into one of the world’s most highly acclaimed developments. Now, the high cost of Ben’s dream has brought the Carpenter empire to its knees.
